FURTHER READING
This is a list of readings we have collected over the course of the past year that have proven useful to us as a collective, or as individuals in navigating the support of our penpals. We have tried to ensure that a lot of this material has been written by – or in collaboration with – people on the inside. We hope as well to add to this list periodically, and welcome suggestions. All these are available in our library at QPIRG Concordia and will soon be made available as pdf’s here as well. All of these are also available to folks on the inside.
Empowerment – A chapter from a book put out in the 70s called Critical Resistance to the Prison Industrial Complex about support for prisons among non-incarcerated communities and folks who aren’t directly affected. It includes a detailed section called The qualities of a prisoner ally.
The Criminal’s Handbook: For being on the punitive end of justice – This self-published book was written and sent to us by C Watts, who is currently serving his sentence in Southern Ontario. The book covers all of the ins and outs of the Canadian criminal justice system, from specific information about how arrest warrants work, to legal aid, to basic rights of prisoners like phonecalls, to the different levels of security levels in Canadian jails. *Please note that given this book is over 200 pages, only the table of contents is available – to request a specific section or chapter, please email us and we will send it to you by email or regular mail.
If We Have To Take Tomorrow – A collection of writing about same-sex and same-gender desire, and HIV/AIDS by and for gay black men.
Transforming Justice: Working to End the Imprisonment and Criminalization of Transgender and gender non-conforming people – A report compiled by the US-based organization Transforming Justice about the issues of poverty and criminalization faced by trans communities, as well as community listings of organizations doing support work.
The Queer, Feminist & Trans Politics of Prison Abolition – A resource package developed by folks in the UK working around trans and queer prisoner support, some basic prison terms, and how to build stronger networks of prisoner support.
Prison Issues and HIV – An excerpt from the book Women, AIDS, and ACT UP, a handbook put together by ACT-UP NYC. The chapter provides a short introduction to prison and HIV/AIDS issues.
‘It’s war in here’: A report on the treatment of transgender and intersex people in NY state prisons – While specific to New York state, this report, put out by the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, provides a comprehensive overview of some of the issues faced by transsexual and transgender prisoners across the US and Canada.
Confronting HIV and Imprisonment – A collection of articles put together by CHAMP about issues of condom access in prison, harm reduction, and bridging HIV prevention and prison reform movements.
Ouvrir notre avenir: une étude nationale sur les détenues, le VIH et l’hépatite C – Put out by the Toronto-based Prisoner HIV/AIDS Support and Action Network (PASAN), this report covers the health and transmission issues faced by women in Canadian prisons.
Queers for Economic Justice: Poverty, Public Assistance, and Privatization – A short magazine about how cycles of poverty and the marginalization of queers of colour and queer youth lead to incarceration.
ACTing UP for Prisoners with AIDS – A chapter from the book AIDS Activism, specifically on the history of in-prison AIDS activism, prisoner support by AIDS movements, and AIDS prevention organizing coming from communities on the inside.
Queer Encounters with Prison Activism – An essay about the history of prisoner support and prisoner solidarity among gay, queer, and lesbian communities across the 20th century and today.
To be left with the body – This collection, put out by AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) is dedicated to poetry, prose, and photography written by and for HIV positive folks about the marginalization and criminalization of queer and HIV positive communities.
Corpus: volumes 4, 5, 6 – Corpus, put out by AIDS Project Los Angeles, and Gay Men’s Health Crisis, is an HIV prevention publication that brings together health information, politics, creative work, and essays all on issues related to HIV/AIDS, and where health and AIDS intersects with other other issues faced by gay and queer communities: incarceration, racism, policing. Issue 4 is about women’s relationships to gay men and AIDS; Issue 5 is about rural gay identity and AIDS; Issue 6 is the International issue, and explores shifting global responses among gay and queer men to AIDS.
Turnover: a collection of HIV prevention comics – Put out by the Institute for Gay Men’s Health, Turnover, through comics and illustration, explores issues of youth and HIV transmission, barebacking, and physical and emotional wellness.
The De-gaying of AIDS and Reclaiming Culture / La deshomosexualizacion del SIDA – Available in both Spanish and Engish, these short essays speak to how AIDS has been de-gayed, and the effects of this on, among others, prisoners and communities of colour.
Gay boy talk: stopping HIV infections among young gay men Also available in Spanish and English.
What causes AIDS – A series of personal testimonies put together by APLA about the issues that cause AIDS.
Scarlet Letters: Essays about HIV/AIDS and commercial sex venues – A series of essays about strategies for HIV prevention working with commercial sex venues.
